It is known to provide safety devices, commonly known as door guards, hinge guards, anti-finger trapping devices or finger guards, to prevent or inhibit finger trapping accidents in doors. An opened door defines a vertical gap between the door and the door frame to which it is hinged—this is referred to as the ‘hinge gap’ or ‘hinge cavity’. Typically, if the door is more than halfway from a closed to a fully open position (and it can be less than this in some cases), this gap is sufficiently large for a subject (e.g. a person) to insert fingers (or other appendages) into the gap. If the door is then pivoted towards the closed position, the gap is reduced resulting in injury to the person's fingers. For this reason, the hinge gap between the hinged door and the door frame is also commonly referred to as a ‘pinch point’.
Resulting injuries can be severe because the door is effectively a lever with a massive mechanical advantage at the pinch point. Thus even a relatively light door can exert a crushing force at the pinch point—complete amputations of finger tips are not uncommon. Typically, children are at the greatest risk as they are less safety conscious and have smaller fingers and their inherent curiosity and lack of awareness about potential dangers leads them to insert fingers into the hinge gap without knowledge of the risks. However, the injury could happen to anyone, especially other vulnerable groups including the elderly or persons with certain disabilities, mental illnesses or learning difficulties.
Conventional door guards typically attempt to solve this problem by covering the pinch point using a flexible material or a substantially rigid but hinged material having one end fixed to the door frame (often on a door stop within the frame) and the other end fixed to the door. In many designs the guard is able to effectively increase in length to accommodate the varying distance between the two fixed ends as the door is opened. This can be achieved using stretchable materials, rolled sheet materials, concertina materials, or the like. Other examples of prior art devices use sliding arrangements and the like. Examples of known door safety devices are shown in FIGS. 1a to 1d. 
However, all prior art door safety devices have significant shortcomings, which has limited their use and effectiveness in real world situations. Accordingly the dangers associated with pinch points in the hinge gap of doors remains a significant health and safety risk.
Guards which comprise flexible materials (e.g. the roller system shown in FIG. 1c) provide limited safety benefits because it is relatively easy for a subject to push the material into the gap, thus negating the purpose of the device. It is not possible to remedy this deficiency by simply increasing the tension in the material because this increases difficulty in opening the door. Furthermore, because of the need to comply with, for example, the UK Equalities Act, building regulations for certain buildings stipulate maximum forces required for opening or closing a door. The device in FIG. 1c also projects from the door (or the frame if it were mounted in the reverse orientation) and thus restricts the effective width (‘clear opening width’) of the doorway and renders it vulnerable to damage through impacts. Narrowing of the doorway is a particular concern where it can restrict disabled access.
Devices made from more rigid materials, for example hinged plastic guards such as shown in FIGS. 1a and 1b can provide, at least initially, a safer guard than flexible guards, but they are prone to fatigue and are also easily damaged through impact. Furthermore, particularly when damaged or worn, the guard can be prone to inversion, i.e. where it bends or folds into the gap during closing of the door. When this happens the material can be further damaged as it is crushed between door and frame, as well as providing little or no protection against injury. Furthermore, such rigid guards often split, e.g. as the result of fatigue, and thus reveal the hinge gap.
FIG. 1d shows an alternative device comprising an alternative system in which a rigid plate is mounted at one edge on the door stop via an elongate hinge. The other edge of the plate is mounted slidably on rails provided on the door. This design provides a comparatively safe guard but requires careful fitment, and also does not accommodate doors which open very wide, e.g. over 120° or so.
Criteria that can be used to rate and compare door safety devices include:                Safety        Durability        Ease of installation        Cost (capital and long term)        Aesthetics        Opening angle        Hygiene        Material        Installation (ease and flexibility)        
Although the discussion above is directed primarily to doors, and this is a primary focus of the present invention, the same problem with pinch point in hinge gaps can occur in windows and other systems comprising hinged closable members mounted in or on a second member.
There remains a need for improved safety devices for preventing the entrapment and crushing of fingers and the like in hinge gaps. The present invention provides an improved safety device which obviates and/or mitigates disadvantages associated with prior art devices.